We have a confession: we have never liked introductory textbooks. Not in history, not in psychology, and not even in women’s studies. As undergraduate students we had many occasions to throw our textbooks against the wall—once we awoke from the snooze induced by boredom. Only occasionally have we actually adopted a main textbook for the introductory course that we have been teaching together at Trent University. Usually we have preferred the flexibility facilitated by articles of our own choosing, bound in a coursepack, plus a few assigned books on specific topics. What then, are we doing here writing an extended review of many recent textbooks in women’s and gender studies? And what are we doing collaborating on our own introductory textbook?

Hobbs, M., & Rice, C. (2011). Reading women’s and gender studies in Canada. Canadian Woman Studies, 29(1/2), 201–208.